President Biden is eyeing a reset in the 2024 race after an assassination attempt on Donald Trump rocked the political world, pivoting attention away from his own troubled reelection bid and frustrations directed at him from within his party.
In the weeks after Biden’s dismal debate performance against Trump, a number of Democrats came out in public to call for him to withdraw. But those calls have ceased in the wake of Saturday’s shooting — at least for now.
Democratic sources have described a “hold” on conversations over Biden stepping off the ticket. After weeks of Biden calling into meetings with lawmakers and donors to try to ease concerns about his candidacy, sources aren’t aware of any scheduled calls yet this week.
“As far as his campaign is concerned, I expect that the calls for him to step down at this point are probably done,” said David Thomas, a Democratic strategist and former aide to Vice President Al Gore. “It's hard for me to see that effort getting whipped up again in light of what happened over the weekend.”
Biden has insisted that he’s not dropping out of the race and he gave an energized speech in Detroit on Friday, offering a full-throated defense of his candidacy taking a jab at the press, pundits and other Democrats.
But he went into the weekend feeling the heat from within his own ranks. Nearly 20 sitting Democratic lawmakers had called for him to step aside and he had a tense call on Saturday with centrist Democrats, who felt “really dismayed” with the president’s lack of strategy.
Moments after the call with the New Democrat Coalition, the shooting at the Trump rally took place, marking a major pivot for the president’s focus. A 20-year-old gunman fired shots into a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, with one bullet grazing the former president’s ear. The shooter, identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa., shot at the rally from a nearby rooftop.
The president has since addressed the nation three times, in remarks two hours after the shooting on Saturday, in remarks on Sunday and in a primetime address on Sunday. A source familiar with the campaign’s thinking noted that Biden knows when it’s time for politics and when it’s time for unity and that he’s made that clear in his speeches.
The Biden campaign is resuming activists on Monday evening, after pausing them on Saturday in the aftermath of the shooting. Democrats are watching closely to see if calls for Biden to step aside resume at some point too.
“I think that remains to be seen,” said former Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.). “Certainly, people have stated what they believe, it hasn’t led to a groundswell. I think the bottom hasn’t fallen out for the president, and that’s important the note.”
He added that Democrats will be looking at polling to make their decision about if Biden should stay at the top of the ticket ahead of the convention in August, too.
“I think in a lot of respects it will depend on what the numbers look like again in terms of polling and how this is all polling in the districts,” Crowley said. “The closer he gets to the convention, the harder I think it is for any change to actually take place.”
Meanwhile, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Biden is looking for a “reset” and highlighted that no Democrats have come out against him since the shooting.
“I think President Biden’s going to use this to reset his campaign, pull the ads off, do an Oval Office address—he’s been in office for four years and this is only the third one—take this moment in time,” McCarthy told CNBC on Monday. “There’s not one Democrat that’s come out after this, I don’t see where they can go. There’s only so many weeks before the convention. He’s locked the nomination down.”
Biden has encouraged Americans in both parties to cool down the rhetoric. He also spoke with Trump, for what he said was a “good” discussion, while first lady Jill Biden spoke with former first lady Melania Trump.
The president on Sunday acknowledged that at the Republican convention this week he expects the other side of the aisle to criticize his record and offer a competing vision for the U.S. He said he will also travel to make the case for his own vision, including on a trip to Las Vegas.
But he called for Americans to take action at the ballot box, and not with violence.
“I think the way President Biden has responded, is the way that I would hope any president would respond to a horrific event like this, regardless of party. This is the president of the country who, of course, you would want to appeal for calm,” said Thomas, a partner at Mehlman Consulting.
“I think we'd all benefit from the heated rhetoric being dialed down. I think that's what the overwhelming of majority of Americans would want out of this election season,” he added. “So, I hope this is not just a brief pause, but something that can be extended into the fall.”
